Success! How I Did It

Business & Economics Podcasts >

Revealing conversations with today's most inspiring business, sports, entertainment, and government leaders. Candid interviews with the likes of Sheryl Sandberg, LeBron James, and the founders of companies like Lyft and Tinder. Insightful stories and useful advice about how to get to the top.

Revealing conversations with today's most inspiring business, sports, entertainment, and government leaders. Candid interviews with the likes of Sheryl Sandberg, LeBron James, and the founders of companies like Lyft and Tinder. Insightful stories and useful advice about how to get to the top.

Revealing conversations with today's most inspiring business, sports, entertainment, and government leaders. Candid interviews with the likes of Sheryl Sandberg, LeBron James, and the founders of companies like Lyft and Tinder. Insightful stories and useful advice about how to get to the top.

Language:

English

Episodes

This week, an unexpected success story. Household Name's Dan Bobkoff and Sally Herships bring us the tale of how a Japanese businessman made KFC a Christmas tradition… in a country that didn’t celebrate Christmas.
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Danica Patrick is the most successful female race car driver ever, but she didn't want to be a trailblazer for women. She got into Nascar and IndyCar racing because she wanted to win. Patrick may have retired from racing earlier this year, but she's still applying that winner-take-all philosophy to her work — this time, in business.

Nick van de Wall, known professionally as Afrojack, is a world-famous Dutch DJ. He writes original music and collaborates with artists like Pitbull, Nicki Minaj, and David Guetta. After 15 years of playing everywhere from small clubs to big arenas, Afrojack is now using a hands-on approach to discover and mentor young DJs. He’s the CEO of the talent management company LDH Europe and the head of his own record label. One piece of advice he’s giving new artists: put the hours in, even if you...

Heather Dietrick joined news site The Daily Beast in 2017 after rising through the ranks at the now defunct news blog Gawker. As president of Gawker, Dietrick was on the frontlines of the lawsuit with Hulk Hogan that ultimately bankrupted the company. Dietrick’s background is in business and law—she’s got both a JD and an MBA—and her strategy has always been to take risks.

Some of the world's top founders, executives and CEOs built their businesses with the help of their family, friends, and coworkers. In this master class episode of "This is Success," we’re revisiting some of our favorite stories about business partnerships, and how our guests have made them work. Featuring John Zimmer (Lyft), Jeff Raider (Harry's), Alli Webb (Drybar), Eddy Lu (GOAT), and restaurateur and event planner Larry Morrow.

Dan Brown’s writing career took off in 2003 when his novel “The Da Vinci Code” became an international bestseller. Now, he's one of the world's most popular writers — with 250 million books sold — and is passing on his best insights in a new MasterClass video series. But when he was starting out as a writer, Brown had trouble getting his books to sell. In order to achieve success, he had to choose between trusting his own taste and writing what he thought others wanted to read.

Daniel Schwarz leads Restaurant Brands International, the parent company of Burger King, Tim Horton’s, and Popeye’s. He started out his career at the investment firm 3G Capital. In 2013, when he was only 32, the firm’s managing partner, Alex Behring, took a big chance on him and promoted him to CEO of Burger King. Now, Schwartz is returning the favor by betting on young talent to lead his businesses.

Stanley McChrystal led the United States and its allies in the War in Afghanistan before retiring as a four-star general in 2010. He revolutionized the Joint Special Operations Command, and he’s best known for killing the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq. General McChrystal recently co-authored a book about famous leaders, where he argues it's time we all re-visit our definition of leadership.

Over the last eight years, Ben Silbermann has quietly built Pinterest into a global brand with 250 million active users. He's the cofounder and CEO of Pinterest, the image search tool that lets users save and share their favorite photos, designs, and recipes. Pinterest could hit $1 billion in ad revenue this year, and it is valued at $13-15 billion. But Silbermann doesn’t want to be just like all the other big tech brands. He wants his site to feel like a real community, even as it grows...

Beth Comstock spent almost three decades at NBC and General Electric. She left GE last year after rising to one of the corporation’s highest roles: vice chair. Her recent book, “Imagine it Forward,” offered her a chance to look back on her career and nail down the lessons she learned about both business and herself. Its subtitle, “Courage, Creativity, and the Power of Change,” captures the themes of her story that stood out.

Christene Barberich is the cofounder and global editor in chief of Refinery29, a media company focused on empowering women by starting conversations about body image, politics, and careers. Refinery29 says it will connect with 425 million people this year across its site, social media, videos, and live events. Before launching Refinery in 2005, Barberich spent her career in media, and helped build the scrappy City Magazine. The lessons she learned there gave her the confidence she needed to...

When Steve Case was in college, he read a book that said a digital revolution was coming. A little over a decade later, he led that revolution as the founding CEO of America Online. AOL became a giant, and Case became a billionaire. Now, Case is focused on driving what he calls the “third wave” of the internet by touring the U.S. and investing in startups in overlooked markets.

Brad Katsuyama never considered himself a maverick, or entrepreneur. He had a cushy job at the Royal Bank of Canada, but he became alarmed the more he learned about high frequency trading, where computers can trade a bunch of stocks in a fraction of a second. He felt so strongly that it was harming the market that he left to create his own exchange – the Investor’s Exchange – where this type of trading is prohibited. Investors can trade stocks from other exchanges on IEX, with the idea that...

If you want to know where to go and who to talk to in New Orleans, Morrow’s your guy. After he dropped out of college, the 27-year old entrepreneur committed full time to his event planning business. Now Morrow’s a million-dollar business owner with a plan to take his ventures national. But he started out as a gambler, both at the casino and with side projects, like a T-shirt brand he started in high school.

Jen and Wendy Yuengling are two of the four sisters in charge of the Yuengling beer company. Their father, Dick, took over the family business back in 1985. He was the one who turned it from a local brewery into America’s largest independent craft brewery—last year it produced more than 2 million barrels of beer. Now it’s his daughters’ turn to take the business in new directions, and they're rising to the challenge.

Pnina Tornai never imagined she’d become one of the world’s most sought-after bridal gown designers. She spent most of her childhood dreaming of becoming an actress, but by the time she was in her early twenties, that dream felt far-fetched. She was a single mom, struggling to support herself and stay healthy. Tornai pulled herself out of that slump by relying on her unshakeable faith in the possibility of a better future. Now, her gowns are popular around the world, and she and her work are...

Jeff Raider is the cofounder and co-CEO of the razor company Harry’s, an online subscription service that sends high-end razors to customers at a low cost. The company raised $112 million earlier this year to move the brand beyond shaving to include all kinds of men's grooming products. Before cofounding Harry's, Raider also pioneered the eyewear company Warby Parker, which became successful using a similar model of online retail. Raider's focus is on building brands he'd like to use in his...

Success means something different to everyone, including the world's top company founders, executives, and CEOs. In this Master Class episode of "This is Success," we revisit some of the most interesting answers to the question at the heart of our show: how do you define success and stay on track to get there?

Alli Webb is the founder and visionary behind Drybar, the hugely popular blowout salon that took a regional trend mainstream. Today, Drybar is a multi-million dollar business with more than 100 locations across North America. But it started out as a side gig for Webb, who went door-to-door delivering blowouts while her kids were at school.

Caroline Hirsch has discovered or helped develop some of comedy’s biggest names—people like Jerry Seinfeld, Jon Stewart, Dave Chappelle, and Michelle Wolf. She's the namesake and cofounder of the iconic New York comedy club Carolines, and the visionary behind the New York Comedy Festival. But when she got into the business in 1982, Hirsch’s only qualification was a love of standup.